25
PRO INSTALLER SEPTEMBER 2015
PRO NEWS
@proinstaller1
Riding the Storm to Success
When aluminium retail fabricator, Bi-Folds Bi Design’s owner Lee West created the business
model for his business nine months ago, he never thought that the company would firstly,
create so much interest and secondly, be so successful in such a short period.
Lee talks to Pro Installer
about how he developed
his business model of
offering low priced aluminium bi-folding door
sets, but was still able to
maintain a high level of
both service and quality
for customers.
“Bi-Folds Bi Design grew out
of the need to offer reasonably
priced aluminium products
to our customers, including
our sister company, which
specialises in house and home
improvements,” Lee comments,
“we saw a massive growth in
the requirement of bi-folding
door systems, as more and
more consumers considered
extending their existing properties rather than taking on a
house move.
“I initially looked at fabricating back in 2013, but the
recession took hold and like
many other companies, we
battened down the hatches
and held tight until things
picked up. Last year, when
things improved, we started
to get enquiries through, and
after spending much of my
time trying to find suitable
suppliers who could help us
remain competitive, I gave up
and thought, we could do this
ourselves!”
“I knew I had the pick of
several aluminium and component suppliers, but I needed to
make sure that they could offer
service, pricing support and
quality to ensure the products
we would be manufacturing
remained to the consumer as a
luxury item, but with a lower
cost price.
“We initially choose aluminium extruder, Kaye Building
Products and component
supplier Debar Hardware to
set up our new operation. Our
manufacturing facilities were
set up in the same facilities
we use for our home improvement business, enabling us to
keep overheads to an absolute
minimum.
“This business model has enabled us to remain 30% cheaper
than our competitors, which is a
considerable saving for installers.
This doesn’t mean we compromise on quality, as I said previously;